Alex Salmond hails Scots’ ‘hunger for more powers’ in New Year message

Scots have shown a “hunger” for more powers, Alex Salmond stated, as he said he was “confident” the country would opt for independence.

The First Minister said the coming 12 months would “mark a further shift in the debate on Scotland’s future as we move towards a referendum”.

The Scottish Government has pledged to hold the poll in the second half of Holyrood’s five-year-long parliamentary term.

In his New Year message, the SNP leader said: “I am confident that Scotland will decide to take full control of our own destiny and join the international community in our own right.”

However, new Scottish Labour leader Johann Lamont urged the Government to “get on” with the referendum.

She hit out: “The longer Alex Salmond delays, the more it suggests he fears the verdict of the Scottish people.”

Meanwhile, Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie argued in his New Year message that most Scots were “not narrow nationalists”.

He stated: “Nationalists believe that Scotland is not strong enough to stand tall in the UK.

“But I believe, and history has shown us, that Scots are confident, intelligent and able enough to prosper in the UK and beyond. I find that most Scots share these strong liberal values.”

Both Ms Lamont and Mr Rennie took over as leaders of their parties in the wake of the SNP’s landslide election victory in May, when the party secured an historic overall majority at Holyrood.

Mr Salmond said: “The Scottish people have shown a hunger for more powers in order to secure a fairer as well as a more prosperous future, and I believe optimism has been chosen over pessimism.”

In his message, delivered from the newly-refurbished National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, Mr Salmond focused on the growing number of Scots who are out of work as well as the constitution.

The SNP leader said: “My priority as First Minister as we go into 2012 is to ensure all Scots have the security and fulfilment that comes from the opportunity to work.

“That’s why we are investing in a range of capital projects to create jobs, guaranteeing an education or training place for every 16 to 19-year-old and delivering 25,000 modern apprenticeships a year.”

But he added: “With greater powers we could do so much more and we would be much less at risk from the UK’s counter-productive obsession with austerity at all costs.”

The First Minister also said that Scotland “once again can be the land that shapes the world”.

He said Scots such as John Logie Baird, the inventor of the television, Alexander Fleming, who discovered penicillin, and engineer James Watt had shaped the modern world, and that others could follow in their footsteps.

He stated: “Our universities, colleges and scientific institutions are working on cures for the illnesses that beset humankind as well as the renewable energy machines and environmental initiatives that will make human progress compatible with the future of our planet.”

But he added: “If we are going to shape the future we must make some changes to the present - and that means taking more control over our destiny.”